Cabinet may clear changes in anti-terror Act today

The Cabinet on Thursday is expected to clear the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Amendment Bill, 2011, which declares dealing with "high quality" counterfeit currency as a terrorist act, and increases the period for which an organisation could be banned or declared unlawful from two to five years.

The Cabinet on Thursday is expected to clear the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Amendment Bill, 2011, which declares dealing with "high quality" counterfeit currency as a terrorist act, and increases the period for which an organisation could be banned or declared unlawful from two to five years.

As of now, 35 terrorist organisations, including the CPI (Maoist), Indian Mujahideen and Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba, are banned under the UAP Act.

Government sources said the bill was referred to the standing committee on home affairs after its introduction in Parliament by home minister P Chidambaram in December 2011. The stringent legislation against terrorism was whetted by the committee, under BJP leader Venkaiah Naidu, and the report with recommendations was submitted on March 26, 2012.

The bill seeks to extend the ban on unlawful organisations from two to five years, specifically to cut the cost of administering the ban as well as get more time for making arrangements with regard to data, evidence, court cases and police sanctions against them.

"The home ministry has been spending more than R50 lakh in legal costs each year to enforce the ban on organisations such as the SIMI," said a senior official.

Dealings with counterfeit Indian currency, detentions, abductions, and threats of injury or death in order to pressurise inter-governmental organisations have been defined as terrorist acts under the proposed bill. It increases the punishment for raising terror-related funds to seven years, additionally empowering courts to attach or forfeit property equivalent to the value of proceeds of terrorism involved in the offence.

The bill inserts new sections to include offences by companies, societies or trusts.